By Roger Chriss, PNN Columnist

A federal advisory panel known as the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force has released a draft report listing its recommendations for improving pain care in the United States. The content is both revealing and promising, because its recognizes the complex nature of chronic pain and the difficulty in treating it effectively.

The task force was formed as a result of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016. Its mission is to identify gaps and inconsistencies in acute and chronic pain management and to propose possible solutions.

The 29 members who serve on the task force include representatives from the FDA, CDC, VA and Office of National Drug Control Policy; as well as academic and medical experts in pain management, addiction treatment, pharmacy, oncology, psychiatry and interventional medicine.

Interestingly, Harold Tu, MD, the lone dentist on the panel, is the father-in-law of Andrew Kolodny, MD, the founder and Executive Director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP). Only one pain patient and advocate was appointed to the task force, Cindy Steinberg of the U.S. Pain Foundation.

The key findings of the task force are that pain management should be balanced, individualized, multidisciplinary and multi-modal. Pharmacological pain management requires careful screening and monitoring of patients to minimize risks, while non-pharmacological modalities, in particular physical therapy, also have a significant role to play. The needs of special populations such as children, women, older adults, and military personnel and veterans must also be recognized, according to the draft report.

The task force introduces a new term: “chronic relapsing pain conditions.” These conditions include a lengthy list of degenerative, inflammatory and neurologic conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, trigeminal neuralgia, lupus, Parkinson’s disease, postherpetic neuralgia, CRPS, porphyria, lupus, lumbar radicular pain, migraines and cluster headaches.

In other words, the draft report recognizes that pain is heterogeneous and the umbrella term of “chronic pain” is problematic. The report notes: “There are multiple potential causes of worsening pain that are often not recognized or considered. Non-tolerance-related factors include iatrogenic (medical related) causes such as surgery, flares of the underlying disease or injury, and increased ergonomic demands or emotional distress.”

The draft report gives considerable attention to the risks associated with high opioid doses and the use of benzodiazepines, but doesn’t entirely dismiss their use:

“Dose-dependent opioid overdose risk among patients increased gradually and did not show evidence of a distinct risk threshold. Much of the risk at higher doses appears to be associated with co-prescribed benzodiazepines.”

“Although the risk of overdose by benzodiazepine co-prescription with opioids is well established, this combination may still have clinical value in patients who have chronic pain and comorbid anxiety, which commonly accompanies pain, and in patients who have chronic pain and spasticity.”

The draft report also warns that medication shortages are worsening the quality of pain care: "Recurrent shortages in opioid and nonopioid medications have created barriers to the proper continuity of treatment in acute and chronic pain patients. This creates the unintended consequence of poor patient care.”

Importantly, the report devotes an entire section to the impact of the 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guideline. While recognizing the “useful general guidance” in it, the report notes that “an unintended consequence of the guideline is the forced tapering or patient abandonment that many patients with chronic pain on stable long-term doses of opioids have experienced."

The report concludes that the “CDC guideline was not intended to be model legislation for state legislators to enact,” but stops short of recommending that the guideline be revised. Instead, the task force recommends “educating stakeholders” about the intent of the guideline and its “core beneficial aspects.”

The depth of analysis in the draft report is clear from the 446 footnoted references, which includes the familiar names of Beth Darnall, PhD, Roger Chou, MD, and Lynn Webster, MD. Pain News Network is even cited as one reference.

The task force held two public hearings in May and September 2018. The task force will be accepting comments on its draft report by mail, email and online. After a 90-day public comment period, the report will be finalized and submitted to Congress.

Roger Chriss lives with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and is a proud member of the Ehlers-Danlos Society. Roger is a technical consultant in Washington state, where he specializes in mathematics and research.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.